Synopsis:

Free-Diving. Why anyone would want to do something as life threatening as this is beyond me. However, this is the subject of Luc Besson's cult favorite…The Big Blue. Enzo (Jean Reno) and Jacques (Jean-Marc Barr) are childhood rivals. Where ordinary kids scuffled on the playground, these two competed against one another in the open ocean, in an attempt to see who could stay underwater the longest. As they got older, they grew apart and eventually lost touch with one another. Only to be reunited at the world free-diving championships in the waters off the coast of France. Each one pushing the limits by setting records that only the two of them could exceed! With any film of this type, there is adversity and ultimately tragedy. The Big Blue pushes the envelope in the very scary and life threatening world of Free-diving.

Audio:

The audio was full and dynamic in its presentation. The 5.1 platform was quite nicely used in placing you in the film's aquatic surroundings. The center was beautifully balanced & provided a crystal clear dialogue track. The fronts/rears really put on a good show with the film's extensive use of water sounds as well as the film's "Peter Gabriel" inspired soundtrack. (There are definitely moments when the score sounds like "Sledgehammer"!) The Sub/LFE was fairly intense in the credits and a few of the film's more involved scenes. However, its use was perfect for the film's intended aural textures.

Video:

The video while widescreen/anamorphic was not as clean as I was expecting. The crystal clarity was not nearly evident enough in all the scenes. The moments where the film shined were primarily those in the dark of night on the water (Jacques and the dolphin). Other than that, the film definitely lacked the sharpness of prints/transfers of this age. The first 15 minutes of the film are in black and white. Something that I'm sure had to do with the retrospective period that segment deals with. Black and white in old films is really something to watch however, the effect in this movie was more of an annoyance than a neat cinematography moment. Those 15 minutes really dragged. Primarily IMHO because of the lack of color in the scene. Not too mention, I thought the film was in color, and was a bit put off at the B&W sequence! The blacks themselves gave way to a fair degree of pixelation and was not at all the crisp & clean black I was expecting from the film. Overall, the images on the disc looked more like VHS quality as opposed to the digitally remastered images I was expecting.

Extras:

Extra-wise, this "Director's Cut" is seriously lacking in the "extras" department! While the film clocks in at 3 hours in length, there was no commentary track provided to explain some of the more curious if not unexplainable moments in the film. Luc Besson's insights on the hows and whys would have been more than helpful in this regard and would have answered a great many of my questions regarding his impetus for this vision. As it stands, the disc's extras are: A Trailer for the feature as well as trailers for The Professional and The Messenger. The Menus for the disc are very nicely done and deserve special mention. They feature great animation with the score playing over the assembled images. Additionally, the international ad campaign featuring promo posters and the like are included as well.

Overall:

I have wanted to see this film from the time it was released, but for one reason or another I was never able to see it. Now I know why. Something deep in the recesses of my subconscious must have known how deeply tragic this movie is! I know that this film has a cult following but no offense, I never got the point of the movie. The sport of Free-Diving looks to be extemely intense and if nothing else my curiosity has been piqued. I would have been more satisfied with the film had it lived up to the "awesomeness" (for lack of a better term) of its subject matter. I did however enjoy, Jean Reno's comedic style of acting and found him to be the best part about the movie. Make no mistake I am a great fan of his work and am probably looking at him through "rosy lenses". Be that as it may, i thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. 49 additional minutes have been added to this feature. I am assuming these were previously lost? For those fans of the film, forgive me when I say…they could have stayed wherever they were. The addition of such a huge block of time drags the film on for what feels like days on end! The sport of Free-Diving is indeed quite fascinating however, I am at a loss for the telling of the story with the film's current components. Now I know the film is on top ten lists and Roger Ebert has given it his blessing but, I just don't get it. In any event for fans of the film, this is definitely a treat! The addition of 49 minutes of previously unavailable material is always a bonus! However, if you are a casual observer, you might not get what you're bargaining for. The cinematography for the most part is stunning but, I wanted to be stunned both visually as well as mentally! Having said all that, I leave it up to you to decide whether you want to experience the three-hour question-mark that I have found The Big blue to be. Rental